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Man accused of killing 14-year-old had been wanted in stabbing case for 19 days

Updated on May 3, 2016 at 2:29 PMPosted on May 16, 2014 at 12:30 PM

Gregory Johnson.jpg

Gregory Johnson, 52, was arrested Thursday less than a mile from where New Orleans police said he fatally shot a 14-year-old boy and wounded another teen May 5 in Central City.
(Photo courtesy of Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office)

Johnson, 52, was ordered held without bond Friday (May 16) after being booked with capital first-degree murder in connection with the death of the eighth-grader.

Bond was set at $500,000 for two counts of attempted first-degree murder involving two other teens that New Orleans police said Johnson fired upon the night of May 5. One of those boys, Miquial's 15-year-old brother Lamichael, was shot in the leg but survived.

An additional $50,000 bond was set for Johnson's booking with aggravated battery in the stabbing case that was reported to police from inside a Central City liquor store April 4.

Court documents show that NOPD Detective Sandra Contreras investigated the incident, in which a woman who said she had dated Johnson for nearly a year was stabbed once in the lower abdomen and required overnight hospitalization at Interim LSU Hospital. Police said the woman identified Johnson as her assailant by name and by photograph.

Records show Contreras obtained a warrant for Johnson's arrest April 16 at 7:15 p.m. But Johnson was not arrested, and remained at large through the night of May 5, when police said he confronted the three teen boys.

NOPD spokesman Officer Garry Flot said when an arrest warrant is issued for a violent offender, the suspect's name is entered into a computerized database to alert law-enforcement personnel who might encounter the subject. In addition, officers are informed about new warrants at district roll call and an NOPD warrant squad searches for the fugitives, sometimes with the assistance of federal marshals or other agencies.

"Once the warrant was issued, we were actively searching for him," Flot said. "But this guy was a known criminal, and he wasn't just waiting around for us to arrest him."

The slain boy's mother, Sabrina Jackson, revealed Thursday that her surviving son said the fatal confrontation began after a friend bumped Johnson as he rode past the boys on a bicycle.

After Johnson and the boys exchanged angry words, Lamichael Jackson told her, Johnson threatened that he was "going to get you all."

Police said Johnson called his roommate, Randy Pittman, who minutes later drove the wrong way down a one-way street to meet Johnson. Police said Johnson retrieved an object from the back seat of Pittman's car, then began chasing and shooting at the boys at the intersection of Josephine and Brainard streets. Only the teen Lamichael said bumped Johnson escaped injury.

Pittman, 49, was arrested May 6, booked with three counts of principal to attempted first-degree murder. Johnson remained in hiding for 10 days, until being arrested Thursday morning in the 1500 block of Lasalle Street, less than a mile from where the shooting took place.

In the stabbing case, the injured ex-girlfriend said she was approached inside the R&B Package Liquor store, 2701 Felecity St., by a woman she knew only as "Meeka," who said she was dating Johnson.

The woman said Meeka argued with her and left, but returned a short time later with Johnson. The woman said Johnson began arguing with her, then pulled a small pocket knife from his black backpack and stabbed her once in the lower abdomen before fleeing with Meeka on foot, according to police.